Scarponi quits Vuelta

Scarponi quits Vuelta

Michele Scarponi (Lampre-ISD) abandoned the Vuelta after 26 kilometers of racing on stage 14 from Astorga to La Farrapona. Lagos de Somiedo. The Italian cited overall fatigue for his failure to compete in the race.

Scarponi had lost over 20 minutes to his GC rivals on stage 13 and was sitting in 37th position, 24:10 behind race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky).

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"I could not recover energies: it wasn't possible to go on, even if leaving Vuelta it's a pain for me. I was at the Vuelta a Espana in order to try to add, to a long season, a second grand tour; I knew it would have been a difficult thing, but good health was necessary and now I have not it. I'll try to evaluate with the team medical staff the causes of this problem and then I'll program the last races with the final in Giro di Lombardia,"

In truth, though, Scarponi had struggled during this year’s race and was never in contention for a podium place once the race hit the mountains.

On a parcours that suited him and with a second place in this year’s Giro d’Italia in his favour, he had been expected to challenge the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Igor Anton (Euskaltel-Euskadi) for the overall title.